Chapter Twenty-Three
The hustle and bustle of the city gave me a strange nostalgic moment.
Did I miss this more than I admitted to myself?
Watching a Ferrari pass by, my heart sank a bit.
The little town of Mosfellsbaer in Iceland was peaceful and humbling which was a nice change, but standing back in my city awakened something in my soul.
It wasn’t enough to come back though, so I shook off the feeling and kept walking.
This area used to be a no man’s land before Luca got his hands on it.
He turned it into Chicago’s wealthiest area.
At face value, you’d think it operated by the booming businesses but in reality, it was what happened underground that had the good money flow.
It was like an underground bunk where shipments that contained questionable items were transported out of the public eye from one part of the city to the other.
If this MC guy knew about this or even had access getting in, it would ruin Luca.
Even with the D.A. on his payroll, if there was ever evidence that would stick and came to light the D.A.
would be forced to press charges in his due diligence.
The standing deal was to keep it out of sight and there would be no reason to investigate as long as the D.A.
got a cut. Luca gave him pennies compared to what he was making but only I knew that.
Birdy gave vague instructions on the meeting location.
I stood in a parking lot, dressed in an all-black hoodie and jeans.
Keeping my head low so I’d go unnoticed, I realized it was the same parking lot as the bodega when I first met Bethany.
Whoever this MC is, made me question everything in the city I thought I knew inside and out.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the mystery man chose this location for a particular reason.
Everything he did seemed to have a purpose behind it.
“You’re fucking with me,” I spat out. “I thought I was part of the team.”
Birdy smiled, “That’s up to MC.”
Rolling my eyes, I stepped into the van and had Birdy tie the blindfold around my head to cover my eyes and tie my wrists together with the rope behind my back.
Seated on the floor of the van, I leaned my back against the cargo as I thought to myself; either this MC was extremely paranoid or he was bat shit crazy.
Birdy and the blond jumped to the front of the cargo and we began moving.
“Goldilocks, you think he’s as good as they say?” Birdy asked the blond as though I wasn’t even there.
“Quit with the Goldilocks,” the young man replied annoyed. “I heard he held a man by the balls over the Willis Tower because they crossed the DeCarlo family.”
I smirked to myself as I leaned my head back against the van. There were a ton of wild stories about me and most of them were true.
Birdy scoffed, “There’s not a chance in hell a man would survive that. Bless the hearts of the idiots who believe it.”
I smirked to myself as I let out a breath of air. They were trying to get under my skin. Defending myself wasn’t my thing. Whether you believe the stories or not, it didn’t take long to learn not to mess with me. The more people feared me, the more the stories became believable.
“I hear he has 10 kids now,” I chimed in.
“Exactly,” Bird spit out not amused, “It’s all bullshit.”
The entire ride Birdie and the blond were chatting, trying to get inside my head but I took note of every stop and turn.
If I was right, we should be at the dock.
That couldn’t be right. Why the dock? Luca had men all over the place here to secure his shipments.
The vehicle stopped and both men get out first. I heard their doors shut and their footsteps fade away from the vehicle.
When it was deadly silent, I attempted to pull down my blindfold using my shoulder and looked out the windshield.
We were at the dock just as I predicted.
The sound of footsteps approached the van so I pulled my blind fold back up. The door slid open and I felt the gust of wind on my skin and the light from the sun shining through the blindfold. Then I collapsed.
As the fog of unconsciousness began to lift, I slowly blinked my eyes open, the world around me coming into focus like a hazy dream.
The sharp ache at the back of my head throbbed with each heartbeat, placing my hand there and finding a bit of blood.
Confused, I tried to sit up, my limbs feeling heavy and uncoordinated, as if I were wading through water.
The dim light of the room made everything appear surreal, and the faint sound of distant voices echoed in my ears, merging with the pounding in my skull.
What a piece of shit. I got dragged into a van, blindfolded, and taken to a place only to get out of the van and end up here. Going to the docks was a ploy. They wanted me to believe I knew where I was and now, I had no idea.
“He’s up,” that raspy voice clamoring through my head.
Getting to my feet, my eyesight was slowly coming into focus and I saw Birdy with Goldilocks walking toward me.
“Was that necessary?” I commented.
“Don’t mind Birdy here,” a voice came from behind both men, “I thought it would be fitting to introduce myself but needed to hide my whereabouts.”
Both Birdy and Goldilocks stepped aside so that the man could come into view. He was middle-aged, with salt and pepper colored hair neatly slicked back and determined brown eyes, casually holding a gun in his hand placed at his side.
“You must be the big shot MC,” I said crossing my arms across my chest.
We were in some kind of warehouse but there were no windows making me think this could be underground.
“I’ve been watching you for quite a while Emilio.”
“Typically my stalkers are women. This new territory for me.”
He laughed as though we were friends. “I hate to have to force you into this but maybe this can be a positive exchange.”
“Why don’t you start with what you need from me before I consider anything positive about this. Don’t waste my time.”
“Your time is now mine.” He approached me close enough to make his message clear yet far enough so that I couldn’t lung at him.
“The only thing I agreed to so far is meeting you. The rest is still up for debate.”
“If you don’t change your attitude, I’ll slit that bombshell wife of yours slender neck wide open and frame you for it.” His reply was so casual yet I could tell he wasn’t bluffing.
“Why am I here?”
“I need explosives. Enough to crumble a building into the ground. You have good connections with the cartel.”
“Who’s the target?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“When do you need them?”
“2 days.”
I let out a scoff, “That’s not enough time.”
“Make it happen. I need them delivered to 1400 S Lake Shore Dr.”
“You want to blow up the museum?”
“Just the people in it,” he replied nonchalantly.
“What about Bethany?”
The man shrugged his shoulder, “Get me the explosives and you get the girl.”
“I want to know Bethany is alive and unharmed.”
He waved to Birdy to come forward and when he did, he passed the man a phone which he gave to me. Putting it up to my ear, I heard light crying.
“Bethany.”
Her gasp pulled her out of her crying and she shouted, “Emilio!”
“You okay?”
“I’m scared,” her voice trembled.
“It will be over soon.”
“Please—"
The line cut out from the other end. Handing the phone back to Birdy, I took a deep breath. As I heard the fear in her voice, a wave of anxiety washed over me, igniting a fierce protectiveness that made my heart race and my palms sweaty.
Looking to the man, “I’ll have them by tomorrow.”
A grin of satisfaction crossed his face, “Thatta boy.”